iCloud – How to Delete Files from Mac Without Removing from iCloud

This is possible by opening the Settings.app on your iPhone, scrolling down, and selecting "iCloud". Scroll down, then tap Storage & Backup -> Manage Storage -> [Your iPhone Name] (This iPhone). You will then see a list of all the apps that are storing data in iCloud. Chances are the top one will be "Camera" and you can switch that off. Doing that will delete photos from iCloud, and if you were to ever restore your phone, photos would not be restored. However, it will not delete the photos that are on your device already.

Also, it is important to note that iCloud Shared photos, as well as your Photostream do not count toward your iCloud backup storage limit. There is an arbitrary limit of 1,000 photos on your Photostream. You can safely leave those on without affecting your storage use amount.

Had this issue - Opened System Preferences - iCloud - UNselect iCloud Drive (confirm removing local files) - reboot. Login again - do the reverse: System Pref - iCloud - Select iCloud Drive. Have a touch of patiences when you try to open files as that takes a few minutes to get everything back in order. Worked perfectly for me.